MacArthur Amendment to American Health Care Act Would Cause Even More Harm to New Jersey

From New Jersey Policy Perspective

Rep. Tom MacArthur of New Jersey’s 3rd Congressional District – the only member of the state’s Congressional delegation who supported the first iteration of the American Health Care Act – has now resurrected the bill with a new amendment that retains all the worst elements of the original plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act and sharply reduces protections for pre-existing conditions and other health benefits.

Because the MacArthur amendment leaves most of the previous bill intact, in New Jersey the proposal would still cause:

About a half million New Jerseyans to lose their health insurance

The phase-out of the Medicaid expansion, which would eliminate coverage for 562,000 residents and sharply reduce federal funds for the state’s budget

Reduced health care for up to 1.8 million New Jersey seniors, people with disabilities and children due to a permanent cap on federal Medicaid funds that would reduce funding to New Jersey by 20 percent, the largest reduction in the nation

An average $2,740 increase in out-of-pocket health care costs for 250,000 residents who have purchased insurance through the Marketplace, which would end coverage for many of them

Increased income inequality due to major tax cuts for 164,000 of New Jersey’s highest income households, including millionaire and billionaire residents

The loss of tens of thousands of jobs with the loss of over $30 billion in federal funds over ten years